Category Archives: abolitionist

“Prison abolition is an intentional and critical commitment to struggle, but it is also a battle of imagination, creativity, and love. It is about possibilities. It is expanding our mind to imagine a world in which prisons do not exist, one made up of societies and communities that are self-determined, accountable, safe, healthy, and free. To share those ideas with each other by any means necessary. And so, we dream; we read and we write.” – Letter from the Editors

Welcome to Issue 24 of The Abolitionist!

At Critical Resistance we see the prison industrial complex (PIC) as a system of violence that works to manage, defend, and extend social economic, and gender inequity–as well as inhibiting the self-determination of the peoples it targets. We see abolition as framework for us to not only undermine the nature and logic of the PIC, but to also expand our political horizons.

In this issue of The Abolitionist, we had the opportunity to expand our analysis of the connections between education and the PIC — and our resistance struggles. The written pieces and artwork in this issue explore education’s transformative potentials as well as the violences institutions of education can perpetrate against our communities. All this work hopes to illuminate historical and present day struggles to address these important issues.

“Placing the PIC at the center of the way that we think about capitalism troubles the lie at the heart of capitalist ideology—the notion capitalism has given rise to freedom and democracy around the world. In response, the abolitionist asks, freedom for whom? Which world?” – Letter from the Editors

Welcome to Issue 23 of The Abolitionist!

At Critical Resistance we see the prison industrial complex (PIC) as a system of violence that works to manage, defend, and extend social economic, and gender inequity–as well as inhibiting the self-determination of the peoples it targets. We see abolition as framework for us to not only undermine the nature and logic of the PIC, but to also expand our political horizons.

The prison system is inextricably linked to the extraction of resources from our most vulnerable communities, so in our struggles we must ask who stands to benefit from policing and prisons. Doing so reminds us that our struggle against the PIC is also a fight against the social, political, and economic mechanisms that perpetuate the PIC. Through this work we undermine the ability for people, corporations, and governments to financially, socially, and politically benefit from a system of policing and punishment.

In this issue of The Abolitionist, we are excited to explore the manifestations of global capitalism and expose their relationships to the PIC. The written pieces and artwork in this issue expand our analysis of the “industry” of prisons and punishment, illuminating historical and present day struggles to challenge these important issues.

Welcome to issue 22 of the Abolitionist, our first paper of 2014. As we go to production in the month of March we are inspired and motivated by the history and legacy of International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day was first celebrated in the early part of the 20th century in Europe, highlighting the the struggles of women’s political participation in various nations, along with amplifying the role of women in the the pitched labor battles of the time. It has has gone on to uplift and be uplifted by social movements all over the world, playing an important role in anti-imperialist, national liberation, and other freedom struggles and campaigns for economic justice…

At Critical Resistance we see the prison industrial complex (PIC) as a system of violence that works to manage, defend, and extend social economic, and gender inequity–as well as inhibiting the self-determination of the peoples it targets. The violence of the PIC take on a particular character in how it polices, surveils, and imprisons women, trans people, and gender nonconforming people. We see this in the attacks on programs of services in communities of color throughout the US, the sexual violence of military occupation, the ubiquitous violence of police policy against queer and trans people, and the conditions of women inside prisons and jails. We also see it in the beyond-offensive language used to justify the expansion of the PIC–for example, claiming new jail and prison construction will somehow be “gender-responsive” and cater to the needs of women, children, and their families. In turn, we see abolition as framework for us to not only undermine the nature and logic of the PIC, but to also expand our political horizons. As it relates to the the ever-intensifying fight for gender liberation, we are honored by how the fights of women, trans people, and gender nonconforming people have enriched our freedom dreams.

In this issue of the Abolitionist, we are excited to dip into the historical and present day struggles that embody these important issues. As you will see, the pieces that comprise this issue span different times, places, publications, and political projects that uplift and contribute to the spirit of International Women’s Day….

As we step ever onward toward a world without the violence of policing, surveillance, prison and the social and economic violence they support, art and culture can give us both the vitality to keep moving as well as visions to color the horizon. Issue 21 of The Abolitionist explores the world of “Art and Abolition,” and the way artistic and cultural expression nourish the spirit of our movement and amplify our collective power. In the steps we take towards PIC abolition, creativity and imagination are essential tools that energize and create space for the growth and development of alternatives to a system that is meant to crush the human spirit. In this issue, we see the ways in which movements have utilized images to further political messaging; we read about how fiction and storytelling allow us to do everything from conjuring with the rich histories that make us who we are, to putting forth worlds vastly unlike our own; we hear echoes of the songs sung 80 years ago by imprisoned women decrying their oppressive conditions, while maintaining and casting out the resistance that always meets repression. Throughout this issue, we see how art can be a means of personal expression and healing, just as it can be a powerful organizing tool.

We are proud to announce issue 20 of the Abolitionist Newspaper! Throughout this issue, we highlight the variety of ways in which communities and organizations are refusing to be divided and conquered and are working to fight back against and the devastations unleashed by different types of borders. We hope the pieces in this issue will add to the brave work and the thoughtful conversation happening on, through, and across borders. How would more freedom of movement affect our families, our communities, and our labor? How would greater movement affect our notions of freedom as whole? All over the world people are refusing to allow nation state borders to determine their political alliances and solidarities. As abolitionists, we join them and to continue envision a world without borders.

Theme: Surveillance

“As we know, surveillance is an integral component of the prison industrial complex. Equally as important is our ability to confront surveillance in order to create a society in which people are free of constant tracking and cataloging as a means of driving them into cages or turning their homes and neighborhoods into virtual prisons. This issue seeks not only to document the terrifying sophistication of surveillance systems, while offering examples and spurring dialogue about how to abolish them.” – Letter from the Editors

Welcome to Issue 18 of The Abolitionist! Included in this issue are important analyses of the various ways the prison-industrial complex (PIC) demands surveillance for its maintenance. In this issue you’ll find a powerful discussion powerful discussion about digital policing in the Arab Uprisingby Ian Alan Paul and David Zlutnick, an interview with Ashanti Alston and Masai Ehehosi by Molly Porzig about organizing under surveillance, and more conversations about the detriment of surveillance and how to oppose it in our organizing work.

“Surviving within capitalism, U.S. imperialism, the PIC, and other systems of oppression takes a creativity, spirit, and will that can be found in all of us, even in what may seem to be insurmountable circumstances. The stories and perspectives found in this issue are but a mere sampling of the long legacies of resistance that connect so many of us.” – Letter from the Editors

Welcome to Issue 17 of The Abolitionist! In this issue we hope to continue the momentum we have built since the release of Issue 16, which focused on Life after the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). We now look at some of the work that is happening to get us to that goal. It is crucial that, in addition to envisioning what our world could look like after the PIC, we familiarize ourselves with the work happening now to make it so. Challenging the social norms and barriers that exist between our loved ones and their communities, finding new ways to keep one another healthy and safe, and building up the world we want instead are all things that we will explore in this issue.

As you read through this issue you will hear from many of our allies–including organizers and former prisoners–but not enough from people that are currently imprisoned. As we work out the new structure for our paper and try these new themes and systems for receiving contributions, we would like to emphasize the importance of contributions from current prisoners. The next issue will be focused on surveillance and it is crucial that we hear the
political perspectives, analysis, and strategies of imprisoned people inside.